Year End Wrap-Up

So as the year draws to a close, I am looking back over it all, and seeing what I learned.

1. Schedule more time for my own stuff.
2. Keep the flow of projects steady, so one ends as another begins (reduce overlap).
3. Participate in more online discussions of interest.
4. Attend more conferences (try to hit 2 per year).
5. It's all about backlinks (today, anyway).
6. Bartering rocks.
7. Smaller businesses are typically more of a hassle, but can be extremely rewarding.
8. Communicating SEO in numbers is the best possible way to get more work.
9. Old clients can surprise you with new requests any time.
10. It's all about the relationships you make, maintain, and build upon.

I am sure there was more, but this is a fine little list of 10 things that definitely were a part of 2008.

Overall, Articulayers had a really solid year. Surprisingly, had more work toward the end than at the beginning - which is a polar opposite of the norm (especially when the economy is sluggish). I did see some folks coming to me for a "life-saving" effort (economy-driven), but it definitely felt like more people were hip to SEO this year than last.

I didn't make one cold call in 2008 - a first.

Lots of blogs went up this year - hope they make it. Blogging can be a bear if you are not into it. And jeez, I even like blogging now, but can hardly find time to write anything here, much less plan and execute detailed posts. As with many things, blogging looks much easier than it is. But I helped launch a dozen or more really solid corporate-type blogs - hope they all succeed.

Finally, I gained 8 new clients since July, and they are my main focus as 2009 begins. Some won't have more work right away, but I believe all of them will be back for more of the SEO copywriting love they find here. Great folks, running businesses I believe in or solid reps for bigger companies.

So Happy New Year. Hope you, like me, are psyched for it - SEO work has never been better, or more detailed...and I still love what I do, every day.

Piece.

Oh Months, Must you Keep Flying By

So November came and went, and now December is half through, and I haven't had anything to blog about...well, not really true - lots to blog about, just no good time to do it. I had a couple major website releases for some clients, so work prevents other work, you know?

But in releasing some new stuff for these clients (one here in Atlanta, two up in Wisconsin), I am streamlining the way I communicate SEO. I have talked before about why the suits like numbers, so I have created a few report templates that now allow me to offer really solid reporting for any website...it is a plug-and-play way for me to keep the communication flowing upstream. And they have all the money, so I keep them happy.

So in October/November, I concentrated on 3 clients, helping 2 others with some minor updates. I did some SEO copywriting and web optimization, and actually did a pretty cool print ad. I gathered up some year-end data, and reported tons of great progress to a lot of my existing folks.

I have also been bitten pretty hard by Facebook - lots of friends out there, and it's been fun. Got a couple light leads from it, but it is a social valve for me right now - not a phishing tool. I have plenty of work - I actually have very few places to use the web for any fun. Social media is a little weird for me - I am not that casual on the web. But this is still pretty fun, and it's great to talk to friends I haven't seen in 20 years or more.

I traveled some in the past two months. Attended some training and webinars, but nothing earth shattering. Have had some direct contact with some industry types, which is cool...simply talking to more like me is always a good thing.

But I didn't build much for myself in the past 8 weeks - it has been all about the Benjamins. But now that the Christmas coffers are full, I am going to try to balance 2009 and the holidays more in my own favor.